Elegant Darkness
by Saddened Soul
Summary: Sixteen years after Malpercio's defeat, schools for magic and combat have opened up around the world. They are meant to train willing students in the art of Mangus battling. A student must now face a new threat along with others.
1. Chapter One

(My second BK fanfiction! Yay! Anyway, please review, I like reviews, and they are what keep me updating.)

Elegant Darkness:

Chapter One

Akina briskly walked down the flight of steps, passing a few students on the way. She held her folder under her left arm tightly and reached the elevator, quickly pressing the 'Up' button and entering.

The day had been going smoothly enough at Finnilli Academy. Her morning classes were tolerable and lunch had just passed; it was the students' free period.

Akina brushed a strand of hair out of the way and inspected herself. The black uniform with copper buttons held a few fuzzes, and her navy blue skirt was a tad wrinkled. She had not had the chance to wash her uniform the night before.

Meetings with the headmistress were always very brief, but looking nice was extremely important. Not many students were called to meet with her, and Akina had only ventured to the top floor a few times for different matters.

She sighed and patted the clothing as the elevator halted and the glass door opened. The entire school was visible from the top floor, as it was very small and held very large windows plastered on the main hallway, which lead to the headmistress's office. Two other hallways lead to other departments, but Akina avoided them completely and began to walk through the main hall.

The girl looked pretty much average when compared to her fellow students. She had somewhat long, light brown hair and emerald colored eyes. She was of usual height and was slim.

She cleared her throat and entered the room.

"Ah, I must welcome you Sir Lyude for finding time in your busy schedule to visit our humble academy," spoke Headmistress Nila as the man took a seat across from her desk in front of her. He had shoulder length red hair and eyes, and a slight goutique could be seen.

He wore a dark uniform with a small brass buttons, and his hands were covered with black leather gloves.

He smiled politely and nodded. "Thank you, and I was actually looking forward to visiting this academy; the best in this continent of Anuenue, I hear."

She blushed. "Yes, well, success only goes so far. So, sir, why for the sudden visit? I was only noticed about it yesterday."

He cleared his throat. "Oh, yes, I am sorry for that, but I came to discuss a somewhat important matter with you," he answered.

She was about to respond when there was a faint knock on the wooden door. "Please, come in."

Akina opened the door and stood patiently in the doorway, keeping her eyes locked on the headmistress and her guest.

"Ah, yes, Akina, I'm glad you were able to come on such short notice. Please come in."

The girl nodded and walked inside, closing the door silently behind her.

Nila smiled. "I am sorry for the interruption, Sir. Lyude, and I hope you don't mind." He shook his head while standing up. "Not at all; I can spare as much time as needed." He then turned to the girl and extended his hand.

"You can call me Lyude, Miss." She shook his hand. "Of course, sir; I am Akina Musashi."

Nila cleared her throat. "Akina, the reason I called you here was about the student waiting outside this office. He is new, and I would like to ask you to escort him around the school; a small tour."

The girl nodded. "Of course ma'am."

She then exited the room as Lyude sat down once more. "All right, now, as I was saying…"

"Are you the new student?" Akina asked the boy who sat on the bench outside the office. He looked up at her and nodded. "Come with me the."

The boy was about a year younger than she was; sixteen to be exact. He had short black hair which drooped in front of his eyes, and was wearing a crimson vest over a black shirt. His beige pants were a bit long, falling over most of his boots.

"So, um, what's your name?" he asked as they began to descend down the stairs. "Akina."

"Akina?" He smiled slightly. "That's a pretty name; mine's Levin."

She shrugged. "Well, nice to meet you Levin. It's not very often we see new students coming in late in the semester."

He nodded. "Yeah, well, my mother wanted me to get the best education and guidance in becoming a mage, so I was transferred from the academy in Mira. Since my mom's somewhat bossy, my father didn't have much say in it, but he's much more lenient with me."

"Sounds like you have a nice family," she commented as they stopped. "Yeah, they're pretty great," he replied.

She sighed and glanced at her watch as the bell rung. "I won't have time to give you a full tour right now; what class do you have? I can at least escort you there."

He fished in his pocket and took out a small piece of paper which served as his schedule. "Um, says here I have 'Sword Combat and Defense', with a 'Sir Magnosio'."

Akina smiled slightly. "How convenient, I have that same class as well right now; follow me."

(This was a short chapter, right? Well, if there was some confusion, the story takes place seventeen years after the conclusion of the game, and Lyude's role in the government will be explained later on.)


	2. Chapter Two

(Hey, um, Ocecat, I hope you've had a good time with Disc One, because the second disc is hell! But I ended up cheating the entire way for it; damn you Giacomo! Anyway, this will contain some spoilers for the end of the game, but you're all right with that, right?)

Elegant Darkness:

Chapter Two

Akina led Levin through a series of halls; each intersecting at different points. The boy groaned. "This is already confusing. This place is much bigger than Sevence Academy in Balaincore; how am I supposed to find my classes?"

She glanced at him. "You should get used to it after awhile; was Sevence Academy as small as you make it out to be?"

"Well, it's certainly smaller than this place," he replied as she stopped at a door. "Yes well, most of this building was constructed of silver, and it was one of the first academies created; it was meant to be majestic."

They both then entered the classroom. It was actually smaller than what Levin thought; three rows of desks filled up most of the square room. There were two windows on the right wall, and they showed the lake the academy was built next two.

A man sat at a large desk in the front of the classroom, and behind him was a small black chalkboard. Three other students were sitting down as well; two girls spoke excitedly to one another and a male student sat alone in the second row in the right side.

"Oh, don't you think he's hot?"

"Who? Karasu? I'd like to talk to him, but rumor has it that he's with someone else."

"Oh really? Who is it?"

"Don't know, but yeah, we can dream."

Levin had been listening to their conversation and looked at the other student. He seemed to be Akina's age, with jet black hair combed back. His eyes were an indigo color, and he was staring at the pencil he held in his right hand.

"Who's that, Akina? Those girls are really hyped up about him," he asked while she sighed. "That's Karasu; a majority of the girls here hyperventilate whenever they see him, but I'm in the minority. He rarely talks, but he's damn good with wielding a sword."

She then cleared her throat and proceeded to the front desk. A man, most likely in his thirties, was reading a sheet of paper. Dirty blonde hair covered his head, and he wore a long crimson coat.

"Ah, Anika, you were escorting a new student?" he asked without looking up. She nodded. "Yes sir," she responded while making way for Levin to hand his schedule to the man. He took it quickly and read over it. "I see, from Sevence; a relaxing place Mira is."

He finally raised his head to look at the boy. Levin could feel his heart racing; he gulped and actually began to shiver, much to his bewilderment.

"You need not be afraid of me, but I do insist you not waste our class time with meaningless questions or any other things on your mind. While it does say that your major is in the subject of spell casting and Mangus manipulating, I require you to focus and work just as hard in this class as you would with your more favorable ones, if you want to pass that is."

Levin nodded, his gaze never leaving the man's. "Yes sir; my father wielded a sword and taught me some basics when I was younger."

"Very well then, that is good to hear. I can perhaps be more demanding at times, but it is all for the better. Akina, if you don't mind, could you assist young Levin here on whatever he may need?"

"Of course, Sir."

She then led him over to the third row and took a seat near the end; he sat down next to her.

"So, how is Sir Magnosio on a daily basis?" he asked while reaching into his bag and taking a sheet of paper out. "He's usually nice, but he can get a tad upset. Actually, he's one of the better teachers, compared to the mages. They'll be drilling you hard."

He nodded while grasping a pencil from a pocket of his bag and began to write. "What is that?" Akina asked. "Class will be starting soon enough."

Levin smiled. "I know, but my mother wanted me to tell them how the first day went, and I was hoping to start on it immediately."

She sighed. "I never knew my mother; I was raised by my adoptive parents." Levin frowned. "Oh, that's too bad. I would feel horrible if I didn't know mine; I suppose I love them too much."

The rest of the day went by well enough. Levin had some trouble locating his final three classes; it also took him fifteen minutes to find the student services department to pick up his uniform.

Akina cut another small section of the chicken breast and placed it in her mouth with her fork. As always, the cafeteria was filled with laughter, conversations, and commotion over nothing in particular. She sighed and began to cut again when a person sat at the table across from her.

"How come you're all alone?" Levin asked while glancing around and sitting down. She looked up at him. "I usually don't socialize too much with the others."

He frowned. "You're never going to make any friends that way?" he responded while setting his plate down."

She fidgeted slightly. "Why exactly are you sitting here? I don't need to explain to you how to eat, do I?" Levin glanced at his plate. "Well, I'm sorry. I was just looking to meet some people."

Akina closed her eyes. "There are plenty of other people you can talk to." He just stared at her for a moment, hardly blinking.

"I don't know what your problem is, but I'm sorry if I annoyed you that much. I don't have to waste my time trying to be nice, but I'd rather not make an enemy on my first day."

He stood up. "I wasn't that hungry anyway," he stated calmly before walking off and out of the cafeteria.

-

Nila sighed while rubbing her eyes and glancing at the clock. She tied her hair back and thought of the events that morning.

The head of the Magnus Protection department of Alfarde had visited and seemed to have a great and heavy thought on his mind.

She sighed once more as a younger woman entered. "How've you been Ma'am? I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it to work today."

"It's all right," she responded to her secretary.

"I heard Sir Lyude from Alfarde visited today; he's quite a man, isn't he? Did he ask you on a date?" Amelia Vandale said as her superior stood up.

"No, it was something else, but something unexpected came up and he had to leave, but he said he would be stopping by tomorrow to discuss the matter further."

Amelia nodded and left while Nila sat back down. "What could be so important that the academies were alerted?"

-

Levin awoke early the next day, quickly dressing into his uniform and departing for the postal department. He had succeeded in sending out his letter during his Magical Defense class because his teacher had allowed him to. He hoped by some slim chance his parents had responded and that their letter had come in.

He quickly descended down a flight of stairs and walked through a small hallway, using a map to guide him.

Upon finding the large room, he entered and examined it. There were many identical cabinets and drawers; he was also surprised at how many students checked for mail that early.

He cleared his throat and scanned the cabinets, searching for the designated one. He finally found it and opened the small door, quickly grasping a small pile which was labeled 'Recent', and began to sort through it.

As he did this, he looked around the room. There were a few teachers looking for mail on the opposite side of the room; the left one. There were two tables located in the center of the room, and some students were reading their letters there. He continued looking until seeing a familiar face near a stack of papers; Akina.

She was reading a small letter and seemed to be very frustrated. She sighed and continued reading, seemingly distorted over the content of the paper.

Levin was tempted to go over and ask her what was wrong, but he ignored the thought and kept on sorting. After a few minutes, he found a letter assigned to him; it was from his parents!

He smiled happily and was about to begin opening it when the building shook violently. Dust fell from the ceiling and many of the students cried out.

Levin grasped the counter for support as another tremor occurred. He strained his ears to try and listen once the room was silent. He heard it as the building shook again; they were explosions, and they were coming from outside as well as inside of the academy.


End file.
